I will hopefully be able to get my first tortoise at the end of this week. I am trying to decide between a male or female. It will be a Russian tortoise. Temperament wise is there a difference?
My male always seems somewhat more feisty than the females I've seen. That's not to say less active, but the blokes tend to enjoy breaking things more haha
The males seen to climb more and explore everything; the females seem to be more afraid and hide more. But there are exceptions.
A Russian that pushes up against your finger when you rub the head will be less fearful by nature. If the Russian pulls the head in when you rub the head then it seems to me that those are naturally more shy.